Excelsior College Environmental Protection and Ethics Theory Article Analysis

Going green has become a slogan bandied about by many businesses to highlight their commitment to the environment. This is a marketing tool to connect with consumers who value environmental protection. However, using this as a slogan does not necessarily mean that the business has a culture that supports this behavior, either in their home country or abroad. Consumers that value environmental-friendly behaviors are often skeptical about advertising used by companies to indicate that they are “green” (do Paco & Finisterra, 2012). However, this does not reduce the value of taking a pro-environmental approach that addresses sustainability and moves beyond government regulations. To take this step, organizational leaders must consider the effect of an environmental policy that addresses the issues associated with the global nature of operations.

This activity asks you to develop a policy and communication plan to address the ethics of the environmental issue.

Next, reflect upon the following:

• Choose the most applicable ethics theory and apply it to the issue described in the article.
• What do you see as critical to a strong solution that this theory ignores?
• How does the choice of approach (based on theory) impact the decisions made by organizational leaders related to environmental protection? Put yourself in the role of the organizational leaders.
• Can companies be truly green, committed to sustainability,and economically viable?
• Do only human interests matter morally, or is the natural world intrinsically valuable?

Address the following in your primary discussion post:

• You are responsible for creating an environmental protection policy for your company.
• After the above research and reflection, you must now create a policy and a communication process for this policy.
• Write a policy and describe the communication process you will use within the organization to address the concerns you have.
• What issues have you identified in implementing this policy?
• What challenges must you address in order to effectively implement the communication process?
• Will this policy change when operating in another country? Why or Why not? Make sure you support this choice using theory.

One of the considerations when participating in course discussions is to keep an open mind and be appreciative of the fact that we don’t all share the same perspective. Ethical issues can many times bring emotions to the surface. Work to take a step back and use this as a learning experience about both yourself and others that you might work with on a daily basis.

Your responses to the discussion questions should relate the assigned readings and viewings to the discussion topic and should not consist only of personal opinion. Your opinion is important to the discussion, but it is also important that you add connections to the material to support your views. Without a foundation in the literature, your opinion has little professional value. For example, “Based on Trevino and Nelson’s stance that cultural relativism creates an environment where unethical behavior is justified through the cultural discourse (year, P#), the discussion should center around……” This type of statement allows you to connect your views to the literature. This is possible even when you are providing personal examples.